Bottle shipping container with internal yieldable supports



Jan. 13, 1959 A- BERGSTROM BOTTLE SHIPPING CONTAINER WITH INTERNAL YIELDABLE SUPPORTS Filed June 1, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 3&1- J41 2i X 7 I I J6. :7i9J7 TE- 15 In I I f 2 J6 IM- 1 *5; .70 h Q J8 i v I I Jill 5 mm" 1L I I i l I 20 I i 2 a i l I 36 7 1 I 1 1 i l s l Baa. l i

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BOTTLE SHIPPING CONTAINER WITH INTERNAL YIELDABLE SUPPORTS Filed June 1, 1955 2 Sheets-Sh eet 2 IEMEE.

WWII/z 7 ll? wmwx .39 W1 INVENTOR United States Patent BOTTLE SHIPPING CONTAINER WITH INTERNAL YIELDABLE SUPPORTS Harold A. Bergstrom, Van Wert, Ohio, assignor to Continental Can Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 1, 1955, Serial No. 512,429

Claims. (Cl. 229-14) This invention relates to a new and improved shipping container for bottles, jugs and other frangible vessels, and it relates more particularly to a drum having internal yieldable supports for a bottle or the like to protect it against breakage even when handled roughly.

An object of the invention is to provide the drum with spaced upper and lower yieldable supports to engage the upper and lower portions of the bottle or other vessel, and with a cushioning sleeve interposed between said upper and lower supports to surround the side wall of the bottle or the like, thus affording complete protection against breakage if the drum be dropped on either end or on one side, and also providing protection against accident-a1 external blows delivered in any of various directions.

Another object of the invention is to form the supports from corrugated fiber board to not only provide for inexpensive manufacture butto utilize the known cushioning characteristics of such corrugated board to impart the required yieldability to the supports.

Still another object is to form the cushioning sleeve from one or more sheets of corrugated fiber board rolled circumferentially to provide a plural-ply formation for said sleeve, single-face single-flute board being preferable.

A further object is to provide another novel form of cushioning sleeve composed of yieldable rings stacked one upon another, thus providing a sleeve construction which may be readily lengthened by adding rings, or shortened by subtracting rings.

A still further object is to form the yieldable rings by simply cutting them from a sheet of corrugated fiber board, double-face double-flute board being preferable.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description, the appended claims and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Figure l of the accompanying drawings is a vertical sectional view partly in elevation, showing a jug within the improved shipping container.

Figures 2 and 3 are side elevations of the two sections from which the upper support is formed.

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail vertical sectional view on line 4--4 of either Figure 2 or Figure 3.

Figure 5 is an enlarged end elevation of a fragment of the cushioning sleeve of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic end view of the sleeve of Figure 1.

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 1 but showing the construction in which the cushioning sleeve is formed from rings stacked one upon another.

Figure 8 is a plan view partly broken away, showing one of the rings of Figure 7.

Figure 9 is an enlarged detail sectional view on line 9-9 of Figure 8.

The construction shown by the drawings may be considered as preferred and will be rather specifically described. However, it is to be understood that variations may well be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

A container body or drum 10 is provided, preferably but not necessarily cylindrical in shape and. having a side wall 11, a bottom 12 and a removable cap or closure 13. This drum is preferably formed from fiber board and may be of any conventional form found acceptable to the trade. The drum is of greater height and of greater diameter than the bottle or the like B which it is to receive, and the space intervening between bottle and drum is occupied by an upper yieldable support U, a lower yieldable support L and a cushioning sleeve S.

The upper support U comprises two centrally crossed vertical walls 14 and 15, each notched to receive the other, the notches of said walls being shown at 16 and 17 respectively in Figures 2 and 3. Each wall 14, 15 is formed with a large downwardly open notch 18, providing said wall with a horizontal upper portion 19 and with two downwardly projecting bottle-embracing arms 20. The notches 18 receive the neck 21, the top chime or breast 22 and the upper end portion of the bottle side wall 23. to provide downwardly facing curved seats 24 which abut the breast 22, and the outer edges 25 of said arms are straight and vertical and abut the drum side wall 11. The horizontal portion 19 abuts the drum cap 13.

Each wall 14, 15 is preferably formed from a single sheet of corrugated fiber board folded upon itself, doubleface double-flute board being preferable, as seen in Fig ure 4. The face sheets in this view are denoted at 26,

a central sheet at 26a and the intervening fluted sheets at 27. To facilitate folding, one of the face sheets 26, the central sheet 26a and the fluted sheets 27 are cut so that only the other face sheet need be folded, the fold line being denoted at 28 in Figure 4.

The lower support L is constructed in the same general way as the upper support U and a detailed description is not therefore necessary. It may be stated, however, that the centrally crossed walls 29 and 30 are formed with large upwardly opening notches 31 providing each of them with a horizontal lower portion 32 and with upstanding bottleembracing arms 33. T he horizontal lower portion 32 rests upon the drum bottom 12 and directly supports the bottle or the like B. The outer vertical edges of the arms 33 abut the drum side wall 11 and if the bottle or the like be provided with a lower chime end shoulder 34 as shown in Figure l, the inner edges of said arms are provided with curved seats 35 abutting said shoulder and aiding in resisting any downward lunge of the bottle.

In Figures 1, 5 and 6 the sleeve S is formed by rolling a sheet or sheets of corrugated fiber board, as diagrammatically shown in Figure6. Preferably, a single sheet of single-face single-flute board is used as seen in Figures 1 and 5. In these views the face sheet is shown at 36 and the fluted sheet at 37.

In Figure 7, the sleeve S is formed from yieldable rings 38 stacked one upon another in sufiicient number to give the sleeve the desired height. Each ring 38 is preferably cut from corrugated fiber board,-double-face double-flute board being preferred, as seen in Figures 8 and 9. In these views, the face sheets are shown at 39, a central sheet at 3% and the fluted sheets at 40.

Due to the novel construction disclosed, the bottle or the like will be yieldably supported and protected against otherwise hazardous shocks inall directions, whether such shocks occur from dropping the loaded drum or from external blows. Spacing the upper and lower supports U and L apart and iuterposing the sleeve S between said supports, provides for thorough protection of the side The inner edges of the arms 20 are shaped sleeve against the drum side wall 1-1, thereby frictionally breaking the lungs and decreasing the shock.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that novel, practical and inexpensive provision has been made for attain ing the desired ends. However, attention is a ain invited to the possibility of making variations within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it is to be understood that the term bottle used herein is to be considered only as a general term and not as limiting, as the invention is obviously useable for various types of frangible vessels.

I claim:

1. A shipping container for a frangible article having a neck, a bottom, a side wall, and a shoulder or chime, comprising a cylindrical container-body of greater height and diameter than the frangible article and a removable closure, a lower support within the lower end portion of said body and comprising a pair of inter-fitting crossed vertical walls of yieldable material having cut out portions forming an upwardly facing pocket to snugly en'- gage and follow the contour of the bottom and lower end portion of the wall of the article thereby providing a yielding support for the lower end of the article, said crossed vertical walls having arms disposed against the side wall of the container body and a horizontal lower portion engaging the bottom of the container body, an upper support within the upper portion of said container body and comprising a pair of interfitting crossed vertical walls of yieldable material having cut out portions forming a downwardly facing pocket to spacedly accommodate the neck and to snugly engage the shoulder and the upper portion of the wall of the article, said upper support having an upper horizontal portion disposed against the removable closure and downwardly projecting arms disposed against the side wall of the container body, and a circular cushioning sleeve formed of layers of corrugated board to surround and snugly contact the side wall of the 4 article and snugly contacting the side wall of the container body; said cushioning sleeve being positioned between and contacted by the-' upper and lower ends of the lower and upper supports, respectively.

2. A shipping container as set forth in claim 1, wherein each wall of the upper and lower supports comprises a single sheet of double-face double-flute corrugated fiber board folded upon-itself.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1; said cushioning sleeve comprising a single sheet of single-face single-' flute corrugated fiber board circumferentially wound to provide a plural-ply formation for said sleeve.

4. A structure vas specified in claim 1; said cushioning sleeve comprising a plurality of horizontal yieldable rings stacked one upon another, each of said rings being cut from double-face double-flute corrugated fiber board.

5. A structure as specified in claim 1; said cushioning sleeve comprising a plurality of horizontal yieldable rings stacked one upon another, each of said rings being cut from corrugated board, said upper and lower supports being formed from a plurality of thicknesses of corrugated fiber board.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 719,612 Russell Feb. 3, 1903 905,449 .Morton Dec. 1, 1908 1,156,074 Hahn Oct. 12, 1915 1,256,031 Miller Feb. 12, 191-8 1,449,531 Moore Mar. 27, 1923 1,449,532 Moore Mar. 27, 1923 1,456,098 *Doane May 22, 1923 1,611,575 Aulbach Dec. 21, 1926 1,664,350 Cappiello Mar. 27, 1928 1,710,543 Leo Apr. 23, 1929 1,725,291 Moore Aug. 20, 1929 2,097,304 Richards Oct. 26, 1937 2,412,756 Smith Dec. 17, 1946 2,458,737 Salkowitz Jan. 11, 1949 2,646,165 Whitehead July 21, 1953 2,653,708 Spalding Sept. 29, 1953 2,761,558 McLean Sept. 4, 1956 

